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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30001338">Better Belated Than Never</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/clotpolesonly/pseuds/clotpolesonly'>clotpolesonly</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Banter, Birthday Presents, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Moving</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:49:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,204</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30001338</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/clotpolesonly/pseuds/clotpolesonly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lydia pulled the box out into the open. “Was this from you? For my birthday, like, three years ago?”</p><p>Stiles’ face went pink. He made some half-hearted attempts at denial, but they collapsed when confronted with Lydia’s raised eyebrow. Instead, he said, “You never even opened it? Rude.”</p><p>“You remember you weren’t even invited to that party, right?” Lydia pointed out.</p><p>--</p><p>In which Lydia finds that giant gift Stiles brought her in s1 and, three years late, finally opens it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>196</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Better Belated Than Never</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i was suddenly and unexpectedly beset by soft Stydia feels in the last few days, and today's Top Dogs Week theme is "favorite headcanon", so i figured it was probably time to finally add Stydia to my repertoire of written ships and showcase my headcanon for what Stiles had in that big-ass box!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lydia leaned against the nearest box and blew a stray curl out of her face. After three hours of sorting and cleaning, her bun wasn’t holding up as well as she’d hoped. But they only had one more room to clear out and then the house would be officially ready for sale. Her mother was at the new house already, directing the movers on where to put the furniture, while her daughter and her friends packed up the last of the detritus.</p><p>This room was tucked away in a back corner, on the far side of the pool, and Lydia wasn’t entirely sure she’d ever been inside it. It was full of messily labeled—or entirely unlabeled—cardboard boxes, so she assumed her parents had been using it for storage. She wasn’t about to look through every box to decide if it was worth keeping, so everything was coming with them, for better or for worse. Malia’s dad had a flatbed truck, after all, and it would be a shame not to utilize it.</p><p>Sleeves rolled up, Lydia dove in. She stacked up boxes outside the door and someone else would periodically come by to haul them outside—Scott, Malia, or Stiles, though Stiles had declared himself more of a “managerial” type and thusly recused himself from most of the heavy lifting. Whenever he popped in, it was mostly to give her a kiss, tell her she looked cute all sweaty, and bring her a drink. Honestly, his presence was more for morale than anything else.</p><p>Lydia shifted another box off its stack and a flash of bright color caught her eye. Amidst all the dusty cardboard, there was a brightly wrapped package with a bow on top. It was a little dusty too, but obviously fresher than everything around it. It took a moment for Lydia to place it, but when she did, she called out Stiles’ name.</p><p>He appeared in the doorway with a can of sprite in hand and a smile on his face.</p><p>“Hey, babe,” he said. “Need help with something?”</p><p>Lydia pulled the box out into the open. “Was this from you? For my birthday, like, three years ago?”</p><p>Stiles’ face went pink. He made some half-hearted attempts at denial, but they collapsed when confronted with Lydia’s raised eyebrow. Instead, he said, “You never even opened it? Rude.”</p><p>“You remember you weren’t even invited to that party, right?” Lydia pointed out.</p><p>Stiles scoffed, open sprite can waving dangerously through the air. “Your parties were open-door!” he said, wholly offended. “Everyone was always invited to those things. Literally the whole school was there. Was I specifically <em> not </em> invited?”</p><p>“I suppose not,” Lydia allowed. She plucked the can from his hand and took a sip before plunking it on the nearest stable-enough box. “Should I open it now, then? We can call it an early birthday present for this year.”</p><p>“No,” Stiles said, arms crossing petulantly. “…I already <em> got </em> your present for this year.”</p><p>Lydia laughed. “Stiles, my birthday is four months away.”</p><p>“I like to plan ahead and you know this about me,” Stiles said staunchly. “Will you just open the dumb box?”</p><p>“Okay, okay, opening!”</p><p>She unstuck the bow from the top of the box to get to the tape underneath. It was already flaking off, old as it was. She peeled the decorative paper back and folded up the box flaps. What she found inside was a veritable <em> mountain </em> of bubble wrap. Her disbelief was met with a very mulish look from her boyfriend, daring her to comment, so she just snorted and began wading through it.</p><p>At the center of it all she found smooth, dark wood. It was a rectangular frame, the base of it lined with delicate carvings. The hole in the center was lined with pegs. Each peg held a stack of beads, white and cool to the touch. Some kind of stone, maybe.</p><p>“Stiles,” she breathed. “Is this—?”</p><p>“It’s an abacus,” he said around the thumbnail in his mouth. “Antique. Chinese, I think it was. Not that you have any particular connection to China or anything, I just figured, you know— It’s mathy! You like math. And you like history too, and historical stuff. So this is both mathy and historical, and I couldn’t find, like, a <em> Roman </em> abacus or anything online when I went searching so I just went with this one because it was in good condition and also really pretty with the carvings and stuff, and I—”</p><p>“Is this really a genuine antique?” Lydia cut in, thumbing over the designs. Even after three years in a box, the polished wood gleamed. “Stiles, how much did this cost you?”</p><p>Stiles shrugged. “Not <em> that </em> much,” he said, unconvincingly. “Less than one might expect! Though, admittedly, still enough that my dad got mad when he found the charge on his credit card.”</p><p>“More or less mad than the flat screen TV?”</p><p>“Well, he managed to get the TV returned and refunded, so ultimately more.”</p><p>Lydia shook her head, laughing. She turned her attention back to the abacus. Some of the beads were a little reluctant to move after so long in one position, but once she got them unstuck, they slid easily along their pegs to click satisfyingly against the frame and each other. She looked up again to find Stiles watching her with such warmth in his eyes that it took her breath away. It always did.</p><p>“So…you like it?” he asked.</p><p>Lydia placed the abacus gently back into its nest of bubble wrap and leaned over the box to take his hand. He allowed himself to be towed in close, readily winding his arms around her waist. She kissed him softly. He hummed appreciatively against her lips.</p><p>“I take it that’s a yes.”</p><p>Lydia smiled at him. “Stiles, this might be the sweetest, most thoughtful birthday present anyone has ever gotten me.”</p><p>Stiles ducked his head, uncharacteristically bashful. It just made her want to kiss him again, so she did.</p><p>“I do have to ask, though,” she went on. “Why the enormous box? It’s twice the size it needed to be.”</p><p>He looked at her like she was an idiot. “I needed room for the bubble wrap.”</p><p><em> “That </em> much bubble wrap?”</p><p>“It’s an antique!”</p><p>Lydia buried her laughter in Stiles’ chest. He made a few more noises of offense, but he still wrapped his arms around her, perfectly content to hold her close for as long as she wanted to be there. It was a very warm and comfortable place to be. She couldn’t help glancing back at the abacus, though. Stiles didn’t miss the look.</p><p>“Do you wanna go find something to count?” he asked, smirking.</p><p>Lydia bit her lip. “Would it make me a giant nerd if I said yes?”</p><p>“Absolutely,” Stiles declared. “But nerdiness is adorable on you, so I’ll accept it. Come on!”</p><p>He snatched up the abacus and took Lydia by the hand, leading her out to where Malia and Scott were playing tetris with boxes in the back of Mr. Tate’s truck. There were, as Stiles gleefully announced, plenty of things for her to count and all afternoon for her to count them in.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://clotpolesonly.tumblr.com/post/645477147145846784/for-teenwolflegacys-top-dogs-week-day-6">rebloggable on tumblr with graphic!!</a>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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